WH Smith shares fall on lower growth after travel boom

By Prerna Bedi

(Reuters) -Shares of WH Smith fell as much as 10.8% on Thursday, after the British airport retailer flagged lower growth at start of the second-half after a strong travel boom last year.

CEO Carl Cowling, however, remained optimistic about a strong summer season buoyed by a robust demand for its meal deals and other offers as inflationary pressures weigh.

The stock was down 5% as of 0952 GMT, after falling to its lowest levels since October 2022.

"We see good traction on all of our offers, but our meal deal is particularly strong. We've got a very good range of sandwiches. We pull that together with drinks and snacking, and particularly in airports and rail stations, we're seeing the proportion of people wanting to buy those meal deals go up," Cowling said in an interview with Reuters.

The group, which sells products ranging from books and sandwiches to Bluetooth headphones, said it was focussing on expanding the range of products offered at its stores in a bid to push up sales.

The group reported an adjusted pre-tax profit of 32 million pounds ($40 million) for the six months ended Feb. 29, compared to 43 million pounds last year.

($1 = 0.8003 pounds)

(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)